Schlumbohm



Se t. 11, 1956 P. SCHLUMBOHM DECANTER FOR POURING ICE CUBEIS Filed June 5, 1953 IN VENTOR United States Patent DECANTER FOR POURING ICE CUBES Peter Schlumbohm, New York, N. Y. Application June 3, 1953, Serial No. 359,315

3 Claims. (Cl. 62- 1) The present invention refers to a dispensing device, especially for dispensing ice cubes.

The problem with ice cubes at cocktail parties is that nobody uses tongs or other gripping devices to remove two or three ice cubes from an ice bowl and that the manual approach is not very hygienic.

Following my invention, a bent tube is used as ice tub. Preferably I use a U-shaped tube.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in vertical cross section, with the exception of the handle which is shown in view.

The U-shaped tube has two open sections 2 and 3. A handle 4 may be provided but the straight section 3 may equally well serve as a handle. The tube is resting on a gasket 8 like in a cradle in which it can be tilted by moving the handle 4 upward.

One modification of my invention is to provide a drain hole 5 at the lowest part of the bend. The melting water 7 then may be caught in a container 6, the open top of which carries the gasket 8.

The operation of the device is based on several physical facts and is in its efiiciency quite surprising.

1. The device makes use of the small friction between the glass and the ice.

2. The device forces the ice through a bent path and thereby breaks up ice cubes which are on the verge of freezing together.

3. The air which is in contact with the ice is heavier than the atmospheric air and moves downward to leave the U-tube through the drain vent. This protects the lower layers of ice against heat.

4. Using a material of great thickness and small heat conductivity, such as Pyrex glass, is additional protection against heat.

All these factors work together to keep an agglomeration of ice cubes in flow when the U-shaped tube is first rocked a bit back and forth and then tilted for dispensing ice cubes out of the open end 2.

Having now disclosed the nature of my invention and shown by way of example the manner in which it may be performed,

I claim as my invention:

1.. Decanter for pouring ice cubes, especially into drinking glasses, cocktail shakers, or the like, characterized by a U-shaped tube open at both ends, and of a diameter sufliciently large to allow the passage of ice cubes, and further characterized by a base stand adapted to support the U-shaped tube and to hold it in a position in which the two open ends are directed upwardly, and in which the two legs of the U are arranged in a vertical plane, so that the space of the tube serves as storage space for the ice, whereby when tilting the decanter in the vertical plane of the two legs of the U, the open end of one leg will reach a lower level than the open end of the other leg, to the effect that ice cubes will leave the decanter through that open end which is at the lower level.

2. A decanter as claimed in claim 1, in which a drain hole is provided in the wall of said tube which forms the bottom wall of the ice-holding space, said drain hole being arranged centrically with respect to the two legs of the U.

3. A decanter as claimed in claim 1, in which said stand is a container having a bottom wall, side walls, a top wall, and a cradle-like clearance in said top wall to receive and to hold the U-shaped tube in a position in which the two legs are arranged in a vertical plane with the two open ends directed upwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 34,918 Wheeler Aug. 13, 1901 976,066 Gillette Nov. 15, 1910 1,447,035 Raggio et a1 Feb. 27, 1923 2,522,651 Van Vleck Sept. 19, 1950 2,525,261 Henderson Oct. 10, 1950 2,552,029 Bludeau et a1 May 8, 1951 2,586,802 Field Feb. 26, 1952 

